October 2019 – Greta Holt

What then must we do? Panhandlers and Respect

By Greta Holt | October 17, 2019 |

She is skeleton-skinny, and her face has the acne marks of the heroin user. She’s clever, but she talks too fast and her eyes bore in. I ask around at church and find that she has a different story for everyone: needs cash for a bus to pick up her car, needs cash for the…

Who are the Oppressors?

By Greta Holt | October 3, 2019 |

Exodus 1: 8-14, where the Egyptians oppress their Jewish slaves, and Ex. 3: 1-15, where God calls Moses at the burning bush. (Links are provided to the highly recommended books/sermon below. The bold print is mine.) As I thought about these passages, I wanted to examine three things: systems that oppress, people who oppress, and…

Climbing April 2, 2021
Last year and during the first months of 2021, we have felt as if we were climbing. But as this year progresses, hope for the future is making the effort easier for some. We study and pray for the strength to finish the climb and help others journey upward. My parents worked in Botswana in…
Greta Holt
Courage and Humility 2020 December 4, 2020
Humility is hard to come by. Ego is not. Courage to overcome selfishness is as elusive as goldfish in the ocean. I lost my voice this year during COVID. Did it happen to you, too? To add insult to 2020’s injuries, my husband had a serious heart attack. I prepared myself to take care…
Greta Holt
Through My Mothers’ Eyes September 8, 2020
In this guest blogpost, Katie Laine, my childhood friend, tells the story of her German stepmother, whose family faced Fascism during World War II. ____________ THROUGH MY MOTHERS’ EYES All that came to be in my life began with what occurred to my two mothers. In 1949 my birth mother, paternal grandmother and paternal great-grandmother were killed…
Greta Holt
My Vector Complex – A guest post by psychiatrist Lawson Wulsin May 22, 2020
Psychiatrist Lawson Wulsin is a member of my writers’ group. I value his senses of balance and humor, especially in this crazy coronavirus time. His book Treating the Aching Heart: A Guide to Depression, Stress, and Heart Disease is a comprehensive study of heart disease, and his Mind Matters columns in the Cincinnati Enquirer are worth…
Greta Holt
Psalm 23 in the time of Covid-19 May 15, 2020
A few weeks ago in Zoom church, Cincinnati Mennonite Fellowship prayed the Lord’s Prayer, Psalm 23. Since it is part of a lectionary tradition, a great number of churches re-examined this psalm, as well. Photo by Jared van der Molen on Unsplash In our small church, we ask different congregants to give the Sunday welcoming…
Greta Holt
Individual and Societal Priorities via COVID-19: Guest writing by Mary Tom Watts May 7, 2020
Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash “There isn’t time, so brief is life, for bickerings, apologies, heartburnings, callings to account. There is only time for loving, and but an instant, so to speak, for that.” Mark Twain In the 300 words I asked her for, my friend Mary Tom Watts—who writes for newspapers, reflects…
Greta Holt
Guest Blog by Diane Gottlieb April 29, 2020
Hello, All. My friend, Diane Gottlieb, is an expert blogger. She writes the blog WomanPause. WomanPause is about life after 50, and Diane explores everything from invisibility to the she-ro. With her background in creative nonfiction, Diane is a consummate interviewer, and she makes the most of her guests’ unique perceptions about life. I’m honored…
Greta Holt
An ‘Addie Poem’ during Covid-19 March 19, 2020
Friends, in this time-out of taking care of my husband and dear friend in the aftermath of his heart attack: ___________________________________________________ while the world comes to terms with a pandemic: (New York Times, March 18, ‘These Places Could Run Out of Hospital Beds as Coronavirus Spreads’) ____________________________________________________ I offer this thoughtful poem by my niece,…
Greta Holt
Kilt and Cap: being half-Mennonite January 23, 2020
Recently, a friend and fellow blogger, Diane Gottlieb, asked me about my Anabaptist background. Diane writes the wonderful blog WomanPause, regarding women in the glorious years. Her questions made me think of a memory I wrote in response to J Daniel Hess’s presentation at one of the previous Mennonite Arts Weekends. The Weekend is coming up again in a few…
Greta Holt
Christmas/New Year’s Wishlist December 16, 2019
“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. Cleverness is mere opinion. Bewilderment brings intuitive knowledge.” Rumi I did want to write about whether Christians must believe in the virgin birth to be christian. Wouldn’t it be a great exercise in Courage to tackle that subject during this season? I thought. What would I find and how…
Greta Holt